Sunday, April 25, 2010

Is the Art of Living Foundation a scam? Is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar a fraud?Maharishi Mahesh Yogi called Ravi Shankar "sugar coated poison". That kind of sums it.

The latest is that in his current US tour, RS (Ravi Shankar) is summoning his people to raise more money, get to the wealthy, for another project, Sri Sri University. Another scam! Raise money from others using volunteers (who do it for free and sacrifice their life, rather than earn it for themselves) and then invest it in property who's beneficiaries are his family members and use the front of Sri Sri University! Wow! that the best model in the world don't you think? Very similar to that of Maharishi his master. They say the devotee out does the master!

Before the Nithyananda scandal broke out, Rajshree Patel, the executive director of the Art of Living LA Center went and met Popat Savla, the head of the Nithyananda org. in LA. Mr Savla then mailed Rajshree a $50,000 check!

He gave $2.5mil to Nithyananda to buy and build the temple in LA. Even after the scandal broke out Sri Sri had the guts to visit them in LA. You all read the article in the Deccan Herald about Sri Sri going to visit the Nithyananda temple and Mr. Savla contacted the newspaper and told them if felt like a corporate takeover. Yes, he's a good candidate for take over since he gave millions in the past.

After going past the "sugar" it takes wisdom to recognize the "poison". I am eagerly waiting to read more articles from Whistleblower on the deep dark secrets of Sri Sri. I hope that all of you read Whistleblowers extremely intriguing comments under the post Comment on the "Teacher’s pompous answer to a devotee’s sincere question."

18 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Sri Sri's take on IPL: Needs more cleaning than Yamuna

WHAT A DOUBLE STANDARD?

SPIRITUALITY CAN DO BUSINESS & POLITICSWHILE SPORTS HAS TO BE ..."Sports should simply bring lightness, laughter and entertainment. When business enters it, its very soul is destroyed," Sri Sri, as he is called fondly by his worldwide devotees, said in a statement here Sunday.

Some of the comments below that said article in Deccan Herald spew of vitriol: "why shd sri sri even comment abt IPL ?? if he is a sashu / spiritual guru he shd not be getting involved in wordly matters .sure he art of living oo neds an audit . govt shd pass an act stating that all ashrams will be subject to audit ..sri sri was the one who was seen in a compromising pose on an aircraft some years ago ..."These are people who probably haven't even taken AOL's courses..hmm maybe public perception is changing?? Klim, do you know anything about this so called compromising photo in an airplane?

I wonder if dictators like Hitler, Mao Zedong or Stalin, who caused so much sufferings to mankind, reincarnate into Sri Sris, Nithyas or characters of the kind? There is so much similarity. On the other hand, ideas of Hitler, Mao or Stalin manifested only because of the help of their followers.

No trial provides a better basis for understanding the nature and causes of Evil than do the Nuremberg trials from 1945 to 1949. Those who come to the trials expecting to find sadistic monsters are generally disappointed. What is shocking about Nuremberg is the ordinariness of the defendants: men who may be good fathers, kind to animals, even unassuming--yet who committed unspeakable crimes. In most cases, the defendants themselves took the stand, trying to put their actions in as positive of a light as possible. Many of the defendants claimed to know nothing of the existence of concentration camps or midnight killings. Other defendants used their testimony to emphasize that they were merely following orders.

Devotees, are you “merely follow orders of the Master”? No, YOU are responsible. It is with your help that money laundering, stealing, fraud and deceit take place.

Gosh! The blog war has started! :)Now Ravi Shankar has asked his followers to start a blog "Exposing the Guruholic" http://artoflivingfreefree.blogspot.com.What a joke! And the followers are none other than Harish Ramachandran, CEO of Sumeru Solutions, an Art of Living, or should I say Bhanu didi-Narshimhan Company and one of the biggest scams of Ravi Shankar. And the other follower is Harish's wife Bharathy! Wow! how stupid and childish can Art of Living folks get!They have now posted this blog on the Deccan Herald article mentioned above...and when someone posts this blog (by KLIM) in the comments section for an article online, say Deccan Herald, Art of Living marketing machine Reports it as Abuse! They need a life!

Thanks Anon 1:36 pm for alerting us to SriSri's new blog.What a joke! Right from its first post is deceitful, claiming:

"The Art of Living doesn’t seem to be doing much about countering these allegations, in fact this is one of their policies i don't agree with, so I decided to do it."

These people are so pathetic! Not a truthful bone in their bodies!

KLIM congratualation. Obviously too much truth coming out in your blog, so Bhanu Didi & SriSri trembling already.This is the biggest compliment they could have paid to you & greatest confirmation that you are on the right trail. No amount of such damage control is going to stop the torrent of evidence coming out & exposing AOL/SriSri & his lackeys for who they really are.Congratulation KLIM & keep up the good work.I, for one, am very happy for srisri/AOL creating that trash of a blog & hope all the lackeys now go & post their comments there & leave this blog alone.And yes, they have every right to be scared, because once truth comes out srisri will join the ranks of Nithyananda & other such disgraced Gurus.And KLIM look at their blog as free advertisement. I was thinking how we can alert all AOL centres & members & pass your blog url to them. Here it is SriSri & his lackeys doing the job for us, mentioning Guruhloic by name & even their blog's name is based on yours. Wow Sumeru solutions, never thought we would get any free help from you guys to promote our blog!Keep up the good work. We can do with all free promotion!

Rajshree Patel in US & her brother Kamlesh Patel in Europe are just more of SriSri's lackeys & in the same league as Bawa & Dinesh.They also take huge sums of money from AOL. Just like SriSri, AOL is a very profitable business for them.They deceive people & raise a lot of money from unsuspected business & organisations in the name of charity, they then take a sizeable portion for themselves & rest goes to RS coffers. They live off AOL! THEY ARE NOT VOLUNTEER UNPAID WORKERS. They just train unpaid volunteers workers for SriSri. Young men & women are persuaded to forgo their lives, education & career & instead do slave labour for SriSri & the money they raise goes to fund SriSri , his family & his lackeys lifestyle. Look where SriSri’s nephews live & study & how many property they have bought from the money all innocent volunteers send to AOL for so called charitable projects!Sri Sri looks after his lackeys & they promote him. Again they know each others dark secrets so they feel pretty safe with each other and as the saying goes have their hands in each other's pocket.Kamlesh has been heard to tell attractive women to use their "feminity" to buy influence for SriSri. I once had to console a young woman who was deeply hurt & felt insulted from such comment. Obviously Kamlesh thought other women would like to operate same way as his sister. And have you seen Kamlesh when he gets angry? Not a pretty sight! Seems runs in the family! Knowledge points they only preach to others, no sign of them practicing it themselves.The only times I have seen them using knowledge points were either to attack someone or justify themselves when they were caught with their pants down. As to practise Sadhna, again it is only when they teach it to innocent people, otherwise those who have lived with these guys know Sadhna is not part of their daily routine. Kamlesh even boasts about not needing Sadhna or adv courses! He even proudly talks how he even didn't finish basic course. All he cares about is $$$ & buying political influences for SriSri. He brags about how much he has fleeced Mittal family & other extra-rich Indian families in Europe. Then goes around & mucks them behind their back about what a show off they are re their wealth & how easily they part with $$$ to get SriSri's blessing!Rajshree & Kamlesh have no integrity. They just have sold their soul to SriSri & getting paid hefty sums for their services.All of us have responsibility to expose SriSri & his lackeys. Many innocent people are deceived & hurt by them. And see how the more corrupt & deceitful lackeys are the more they get promoted. That is why Rajshree became TTC teacher & blessing course teacher, not because she is spiritually advanced!!

What a fun? Artoflvingfreefree. so, like srisri, it is freefree. Come-on, AOL-Guys, Wake up. A true saint should be not be perturbed by any blemish to him. He should stand tall amidst all the critics. He should not explicitly justify and justification should be felt automatically. The new blog itself exposes that SRISRI is just a normal person who cannot stand critics. So the truth of klim's blog gets strengthened.

In case "J" is reading, here's something for you, as a comment on your blog, from me:

""True, sometimes some volunteers or teachers may be rude or sloppy in their behaviour" ????? Teachers? So these are the kind of teachers that are churned out? Those that "could be rude or sloppy"? Let them be called students then, not teachers. Everyone knows that AoL is just watered down spirituality. Nothing is serious, there is no sense of spiritual purpose and there are always hormone propelled youngsters looking to get lucky at satsangs. It's so cheap.FYI, artoflivingfree.blogspot.com is a very fair website and never used any degrading language. Obviously you guys are afraid, which is why this laughable blog started. If you truly claim to be as fair as you are, publish this post and let everyone find out for themselves what the truth is. TRUTH SHOULD PREVAIL. LIGHT WILL AUTOMATICALLY FOLLOW."

Comparing gurus like Ravi Ravi, Nithya and Sly Baba to Hitler, Stalin or Mao would be too much of a stretch. Autocrats and megalomaniacs abound everywhere. You can see such qualities in school teachers, CEOs, Managers, priests or anyone in positions of power. But by no stretch of imagination they are hitlers or maos who killed millions. We should bring a proper perspective to the Guru crimes of financial irregularities and abuse so that they can be investigated. Let's be realistic.

Regarding the new free free blog, they certainly have a right to defend AoL and to counter things written here. The purpose of this blog as I understand from reading is for healing, support and to give people a compassionate space to share their stories. Many sincere people on this blog have come forward and courageously shared their stories which have incidentally helped a lot of others including myself in various ways. The new blog is just a blip on the screen after what some people have been through with this cult.

I think you can tell a lot by a person from their blog. I also believe the truth will prevail. So, I say more power to that blogger--it's a free world! But, change the name please. It reminds me of Sri Sri which I always thought sounded just plain weird.

Thank you for your comment. I agree that comparing SR and Nithya with Hitler and Stalin is too much. But in no way they are just like school teacher, CEOs, priests and other people, who abuse their position of power. All the above mentioned characters wanted and still want to impose their ideas to the world , and they make all effort to spread them, like cancer, to other countries by whatever means. All these people created a cult around their personalities (their pictures hanging in all places, songs are sung to honor them, slogans like “Heil Hitler” are supposed to be chanted by all the followers etc.). They all wanted and want ultimate obedience of the masses. Means to achieve this may be different: physical extermination, or just turning people into brainless obedient robots. These are just different flavors of EVIL, don’t you think?

i so agree with chris william -"hormone propelled youngsters looking to get lucky at satsangs. It's so cheap"its not cheap its dirty filthy sick.spirituality and sex - i shall soon post the details of one such guy who sings in satsangs gets a lot of attention and all this fame he uses to sleep around with girls under the innocent cover of guru grace.i am gonna expose one such guy real soon..and i know the day i mention his name here...ssrs n the bhanu ma etc etc will make sure tat the young singer gets even more fame and publicity just to prove the so called guru grace on a satsang singer..ssrs n whole of aol is fighting for bigger causes , call this aol as a family vasudeva kutumbh... while its a pity and shame that the family accepts and encourages and protects guys who rape and use aol platform for their personal benefits..even if they sing satsangs so what...rape is crime..using and abusing girls is a crime whether u have sex before or after satsang...and to top it all ssrs makes strong comments on hussain's painting nude women..well well those r just paintings and here a real human a girl is raped used abused by this satsang singer but who cares...may god bless them

I just spent a few days with Sri Sri and I have a really difficult reconciling what most people post here with the rather nice, spiritual man I interacted with. Perhaps some of your claims have some merit, but the hyperbole comparing him to Hitler, Stalin is really ridiculous. Why don't you have more of a rational discourse instead of all the "screaming"?

@Anon 2:08PMNobody is "screaming" here. We are having a very "rational discourse" about what absolute power may do to nice people, when they decide to become owners of the world or Lords of Universe.

"Actually, Hitler before 1918 had been a nice man. There is a volume of evidence that he had liked Jews. Why? He was reading serious books in libraries, being fond of political discussions, painting, dreaming of becoming a great artist, and knowing all of Wagner (and a great deal of Beethoven) by heart. He had been polite, well-mannered, modest, quiet, and avoided all brawls and physical violence... Having gained absolute power, the nice, gentle, modest young man became absolutely evil. It has been justly said that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. For him, life was now so many precipices, and he could jump into any of them. Do you want to be the owner of the world? Just jump, and you will fly to your ownership of the world – or fall to your suicide."(http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/5/5/180943.shtml)

I am glad you spent a few nice days with SSRS. There are all kinds of perceptions and experiences in this world, whether it's within and outside of AoL.There is a subjective discussion going on here.

However; the legal systems and social norms of the world define what is ILLEGAL, IMMORAL and UNHEALTHY.If there is something illegal going on in AoL sanctioned by SSRS - you can continue to have your good experiences with him but authorities can put him in jail.There are insiders who have left and know first hand, like me, what happens with the money in AOL and a lot of the unethical things. Good you didn't have to face it.There are many many Crores of rupees that SSRS and his family are sitting on, and there are Swiss bank accounts. SSRS is a very smart, practical, political person back stage. Sometimes he behaves like a shrewd CEO using all the dirty tactics, sometimes like a corrupt politician. Even the heads he's put in place are very close to his own character.It's like Nithyananda, everything was glorious, the knowledge, techniques, the public image, and then suddenly one day he fell just like that....

Again, and again all the hyperbole, but no facts. Just opinions and personal reactions. If you have legitimate claims then make them. Comparing Sri Sri to Hitler is beyond absurd. Some of you seem quite psychologically sound and some of you are a little screwball to say the least.

Lehmann108,And why don't you just put your credential on the table & tell everyone you are an AOL PR agent, doing damage control.

http://www.meetup.com/Kirtan-Devotional-Chanting/members/3153848/Lehmann108 I thought some of you might enjoy this. There is usually kirtan at the end of the talk. I've been practicing his breathing technique called Sudarshan Kriya for close to 20 years now....Location,Pompano Beach, FLUSA ,(Hometown: Coconut Creek)

Search This Blog

About Me

This blog was created with the sole purpose of providing former Art of Living members and currently doubting ones a space for healing, finding answers, understanding processes that we went through as active members and as "drop-outs", sharing, supporting each other, with understanding, compassion, and above all, freedom and forgiveness. We welcome you to share your stories. Authors will be kept confidential unless you request your name be published.

Helpful Books

"Take Back your Life: Recovering from Cult and Abusive Relationships" by Janja Lalich

"The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power" by Joel Kramer

Disclaimer

Opinions expressed in this blog are an expression of free speech and are protected as free speech. At no time is any content posted by the blog creator knowingly false. Opinions expressed in articles and files on this blog are those of the contributors and those opinions may not necessarily be shared by anyone involved in the creation of this blog. Events described in this blog are as accurate as memory and recollection permit. The experiences described in this blog is unique to the authors. You may have a more or less satisfying experience with the Art of Living Foundation or its related organizations.